"Only twelve like it in the fleet."

[Noname Given]

Never for a moment did I ever consider Starfleet was made up of only twelve ships.

Well, given this line from TOS - "Arena":

KIRK: "The reason is crystal clear. The Enterprise is the only protection in this section of the Federation. Destroy the Enterprise, and everything is wide open."

I have a feeling the writers were going by the "12 Starships in the Fleet" as mentioned in a DC Fontana memo and added to the series bible. You're free to believe what you want though.

 

[Warped9]

Well, given this line from TOS - "Arena":

KIRK: "The reason is crystal clear. The Enterprise is the only protection in this section of the Federation. Destroy the Enterprise, and everything is wide open."

I have a feeling the writers were going by the "12 Starships in the Fleet" as mentioned in a DC Fontana memo and added to the series bible. You're free to believe what you want though.

The ship was at the remote fringes of the frontier. The line still doesn't substantiate the notion of only twelve ships.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Space is BIG. They could have 500 ships and still have one ship be the only major combat ship in the area.

 

[TheSubCommander]

I'm sometimes amazed that people will hear the line and think that there are only 12 ships in the fleet, not that there are 12 ships of Enterprise's type. Space is big. Surely they'd realize that more than 12 ships are needed to do all the things Starfleet needs to do out there.

Me too. I can buy there only being 12 constitution class ships at the time of Kirk's statement, but 12 ships only? That would be a pretty small fleet!

Currently, the US Navy has around 430 ships, active and reserve. And that is just one nation on one planet. I would think Starfleet would have hundreds if not thousands of ships, even by the time of TOS. Maybe most are obsolete compared to the constitution class, but there has to be more than 12 ships in Starfleet.

 

[Forbin]

Me too. I can buy there only being 12 constitution class ships at the time of Kirk's statement, but 12 ships only? That would be a pretty small fleet!

Currently, the US Navy has around 430 ships, active and reserve. And that is just one nation on one planet. I would think Starfleet would have hundreds if not thousands of ships, even by the time of TOS. Maybe most are obsolete compared to the constitution class, but there has to be more than 12 ships in Starfleet.

Yes. They were thinking of Enterprise-type ships as the capital ships of their day, like aircraft carriers are now. The US Navy has 430 ships, but there are only 11 carriers in service.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

No mention of Starfleet having destroyers in TOS, but lots of mentions of freighters.

From "Friday's Child":

UHURA: I have the signal clear now, Mister Scott. It is a distress call. It's from the SS Dierdre.
SCOTT: Dierdre? That's a freighter.

From "The Trouble With Tribbles":

SPOCK: Captain, Starfleet was able to divert that freighter.
KIRK: Good. That means Sherman's Planet will get its quadrotriticale only a few weeks late. I don't see any tribbles around here.

From "Bread and Circuses":

CLAUDIUS: You're a clever liar, Captain Kirk. Merikus was a spaceship captain. I've observed him thoroughly. Your species has no such strength.
MERIK: He commands not just a spaceship, Proconsul, but a starship. A very special vessel and crew. I tried for such a command.

Merik was in the merchant service, but I think that this line at least implies that different types of ships are not uncommon in Starfleet.

From "The Ultimate Computer":

M5: General survey party requires direction of science officer. Astrobiologist Phillips has surveyed twenty nine biologically similar planets. Geologist Carstairs served on merchant marine freighters in this area. Once visited planet on geology survey for mining company.

This is an interesting line in that apparently Carstairs was in the Merchant Marines before Starfleet.

UHURA: Captain, there's no response to any of our signals, but M-5 has given us an autorelay.
SPOCK: M-5 has identified her, Captain. The Woden. Listed in Starfleet Registry as an old-style ore freighter converted to automation. No crew. Coming into visual range.

From Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home:

MCCOY: The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe. We'll get a freighter.

So I think it's pretty definite that Starfleet has its own freighters, in addition to the civilian and merchant marine freighters that are mentioned elsewhere in the series.

EDIT: I decided to do a script search on "scout" as well. Here's what I found:

From "The Apple":

MCCOY: It's a shame to have to intrude.
KIRK: Well, the last scout ship reported some pretty strange sensor readings. Starfleet wants it investigated and the inhabitants contacted. We do what we're told.

From "Journey to Babel":

CHEKOV: A small ship, Captain. It's been there five minutes, remaining outside phaser range at extreme limit of sensors.
KIRK: Identification, Spock?
SPOCK: Sensors indicate the size of a scout ship, but the configuration is unfamiliar. Most unusual.

From Star Trek: The Motion Picture:

LIEUTENANT: Scout Columbia NCC six two one to rendezvous with Scout Revere NCC five nine five on stardate seven four one one point four. Further orders to be relayed at that time. Signed, Commodore Probert, Starfleet. End of transmission.

From Star Trek III: The Search For Spock:

CHEKOV (OC): I'd swear something that was there sir.
KIRK (OC): What did you see?
CHEKOV: For an instant ...a scout class vessel.
KIRK: Could be Grissom. Patch in the hailing frequency. Grissom, this is Enterprise calling. Please come in.

 

[kkt]

What's that from?

 

[kkt]

Yes. They were thinking of Enterprise-type ships as the capital ships of their day, like aircraft carriers are now. The US Navy has 430 ships, but there are only 11 carriers in service.

Yes, and I don't think it's a coincidence that in the mid 1960s, the United States Navy just happened to have exactly 12 front-line aircraft carriers in service.

 

[Tim Thomason]

What's that from?

That's the carpet seen in one of the last episodes of Enterprise ("Demons"). Direct proof of references to UESPA beyond the original series (see also Friendship One, Star Trek Generations, First Flight)

 

[diankra]

No mention of Starfleet having destroyers in TOS, but lots of mentions of freighters.

From "Friday's Child":

From "The Trouble With Tribbles":

From "Bread and Circuses":

Merik was in the merchant service, but I think that this line at least implies that different types of ships are not uncommon in Starfleet.

From "The Ultimate Computer":

This is an interesting line in that apparently Carstairs was in the Merchant Marines before Starfleet.

From Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home:

So I think it's pretty definite that Starfleet has its own freighters, in addition to the civilian and merchant marine freighters that are mentioned elsewhere in the series.

EDIT: I decided to do a script search on "scout" as well. Here's what I found:

From "The Apple":

From "Journey to Babel":

From Star Trek: The Motion Picture:

From Star Trek III: The Search For Spock:

That SfS quote is an interesting one... does see actually mean see? If so mistaking a Bird of Prey for Grissom is a bit hopeless. If Chekov only 'saw' a glimpse of sensor readings that showed the rough size and power of the ship, then the 'scout' description and uncertainty make more sense.

 

[J.T.B.]

So I think it's pretty definite that Starfleet has its own freighters, in addition to the civilian and merchant marine freighters that are mentioned elsewhere in the series.

It would be an odd choice of words, though: Freighter implying freight, implying commercial carriage. "Transport" would have a more governmental ring to it.

Yes, and I don't think it's a coincidence that in the mid 1960s, the United States Navy just happened to have exactly 12 front-line aircraft carriers in service.

Not so, I'm afraid. There was Enterprise, three Midways, four Forrestals, three Kitty Hawks and a handful of WW2 Essexes designated CVA. Seventeen different carriers made Vietnam war cruises in the mid-to-late '60s.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

It would be an odd choice of words, though: Freighter implying freight, implying commercial carriage. "Transport" would have a more governmental ring to it.

Yeah, but that would create the possibility of viewer confusion with the transporter.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah, but that would create the possibility of viewer confusion with the transporter.

Memory Alpha lists several ships as transports.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Memory Alpha lists several ships as transports.

Huh. So that's what the old Class-J starship that crippled Captain Pike looked like.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Huh. So that's what the old Class-J starship that crippled Captain Pike looked like.

I'll never forgive them.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I prefer to think it was the class J from Star Trek: Enterprise, which has the benefit of not looking like a camper van.

 

[Timo]

As there's only McCoy's "expert opinion" on Starfleet having freighters, I prefer to cling onto the idea that it only has transports...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JonnyQuest037]

As there's only McCoy's "expert opinion" on Starfleet having freighters, I prefer to cling onto the idea that it only has transports...

Huh? Why in the world wouldn't he know? The dude's in Starfleet.

I find it plausible that McCoy wouldn't be familiar with a bit of Academy slang like "Dunsel," but Starfleet having freighters or not sounds like pretty basic knowledge.

 

[soornge]

Cannon and Principle Sources. This is the first run of Constitution Class Starships.

• Constellation NCC-1017
• Constitution NCC-1700
• Endeavour NCC-1895
• Enterprise NCC-1701
• Enterprise NCC-1701-A[1]
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Essex NCC-1697
• Excalibur NCC-1664
• Exeter NCC-1706
• Farragut NCC-1647
• Hood NCC-1703
• Hornet NCC-1868

• Intrepid NCC-1631

• Kongo NCC 1710

• Lexington NCC-1709

• Potemkin NCC-1657

• Republic NCC-1371

• Valiant NCC-1623

• Yorktown NCC-1717

• Eagle NCC-956

 

[soornge]

So last night I was collecting TOS quotes and cherry-picking whatever I could for use in my ST chronology (It really is amazing how almost every episode of TOS gives you some hint about the wider Trek universe that it's fun to decode), and I came across this well-known exchange from "Tomorrow Is Yesterday":
Cannon and Principle Sources. This is the first run of Constitution Class Starships.

• Constellation NCC-1017
• Constitution NCC-1700
• Endeavour NCC-1895
• Enterprise NCC-1701
• Enterprise NCC-1701-A[1]
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Essex NCC-1697
• Excalibur NCC-1664
• Exeter NCC-1706
• Farragut NCC-1647
• Hood NCC-1703
• Hornet NCC-1868

• Intrepid NCC-1631

• Kongo NCC 1710

• Lexington NCC-1709

• Potemkin NCC-1657

• Republic NCC-1371

• Valiant NCC-1623

• Yorktown NCC-1717

• Eagle NCC-956

So I thought it might be fun to try to come up with a list of the various starships mentioned over the course of the series and try to figure out which ones were active during the time of TOS. I made a couple of general assumptions first, though.

1) I decided to limit my list to 12 total, as that's the figure they used in The Making of Star Trek, and I figure creator intent settles the "12 or 13?" question pretty well. Besides, having 13 starships in your fleet is just ASKING for trouble, and it seems that Starfleet is unlucky enough as it is.

2) I'm limiting myself to Constitution class, as that configuration seems to be what TOS considered to be a starship. IIRC, I don't think that TOS-R threw in any other types of starships in the new effects shots. I have a second list of possible other classes floating around, but on the whole I consider Starfleet to be much smaller than what we see in the TNG 24th century era.

3) Starships only, so this lets out stuff like the SS Columbia ("The Cage" / "The Menagerie"), the Antares ("Charlie X") and the SS Beagle ("Bread and Circuses").

Here's what I came up with (You can ignore the years, as those relate to my own Trek timeline):

12 Constitution-class Starships (Active during the 5YM):

1) USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) – Commanded by Captain James T. Kirk
Shuttlecraft Columbus (NCC-1701/2), Einstein (NCC-1701/6), Galileo (NCC-1701/7)

2) USS Constellation (NCC-1017) – Commanded by Commodore Matthew Decker, Destroyed by the planet-killer in 2268 (“The Doomsday Machine”)

3) USS Yorktown (NCC-1717) – Commanded by the former “Number One” in John Byrne’s Trek comics (mentioned in “Obsession”)

4) USS Intrepid (NCC-1631) – Manned entirely by Vulcans, Destroyed in 2269 (“Court Martial”, “The Immunity Syndrome”)

5) USS Lexington (NCC-1709) – Commanded by Commodore Robert Wesley, Lt. Watley transfers to Enterprise (“The Ultimate Computer”, DS9: “Trials and Tribble-ations”)

6) USS Excalibur (NCC-1664) – Commanded by Captain Harris (I’ll say that the unseen Captain Harris should preferably be a woman, because God knows we’ve got no shortage of WASP male Captains in TOS), Severely damaged, all personnel killed in 2269 M-5 incident (“The Ultimate Computer”)

7) USS Hood (NCC-1703)– Damaged in 2269 M-5 incident (“The Ultimate Computer”)

8) USS Potemkin (NCC-1657) – Damaged in 2269 M-5 incident (“The Ultimate Computer”, “Tunabout Intruder”)

9) USS Exeter (NCC-1672) – Commanded by Captain Ronald Tracey, Crew killed by bacteria at Omega IV in 2269 (“The Omega Glory”)

10) USS Defiant (NCC-1764) – Commanded by Caucasian Male Human Captain, Disappears in interspace (“The Tholian Web”, “In a Mirror, Darkly”)

11) ?

12) ?

Starfleet Captains with unknown ships: Captain Krasnovsky (blue shirt, possibly commander of the Intrepid, before it switched over to the all-Vulcan crew?), Captain Chandra (both seen at Starbase 11 in “Court Martial”) Garth of Izar (commanding the USS Heisenberg according to the Garth of Izar novel)
Space Command Captain Lindstrom (seen at Starbase 11 in “Court Martial”, probably not a starship commander from that title)

Older Starships (Likely decommissioned or destroyed by the time of the 5YM)

1) USS Horizon (Daedalus class, NCC-176) – Destroyed shortly after visiting Sigma Iotia II in 2169 (“A Piece of the Action”)

2) USS Archon (Daedalus class, NCC-189) – Disappeared after visiting Beta III in 2167 (“Return of the Archons”)

3) USS Constitution (Constitution class, NCC-1700)

4) USS Republic (Constitution class, NCC-1371) – Commanded by Captain Garrovick, Ensign Ben Finney, Ensign James T. Kirk (“Court Martial”)

5) USS Farragut (Constitution class, NCC-1647) – Commanded by Captain Garrovick, Assistant Engineer James T. Kirk – Half of the crew killed in 2257 (“Obsession”)

6) USS Valiant (NCC-1223) – Destroyed after being declared a causality in the war between Eminiar VII and its neighboring planet Vendikar in 2217 (“A Taste of Armageddon”)

7) USS Kelvin (Kelvin class, NCC-0514) – Commanded by Captain Richard Robau, First Officer Lt. Commander George Kirk (I presume it likely that it existed in the Prime timeline in some form, but it successfully completed its mission and was decommissioned instead of destroyed)

Conjectural Starships in the TOS era (other classes) - List compiled by the highly scientific method of "Having names that I like"

1) USS Reliant (Miranda class, NCC-1864) – Commanded by Captain Clark Terrell (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

2) USS Grissom (Oberth class, NCC-638) – Commanded by Captain Esteban (Star Trek III: The Search For Spock)

3) USS Bozeman (Soyuz class, NCC-1941) – Commanded by Captain Morgan Bateson, Disappeared in 2278 (TNG: “Cause and Effect”)

4) USS Saratoga (Miranda class, NCC-1937) – Disabled by alien probe in 2284 (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

5) USS El Dorado (NCC-1722) – Mixed alien crew, First Officer James T. Kirk (Star Trek II Biographies)

6) USS Saladin (Saladin class destroyer, NCC-500) – Commanded by Commander James T. Kirk (Star Trek II Biographies)

7) USS Sirius (NCC-1744) – Assistant Science Officer Spock (Star Trek II Biographies)

8) USS Phardos (NCC-1757) – Science Officer Spock (Star Trek II Biographies)

9) USS Artemis – Third Officer and Science Officer Spock (Vulcan’s Glory)

10) USS Columbia

11) USS Discovery (NCC-1031) (Hey, we have to fit this sucker in here somewhere)

12) USS Kongo (NCC-1710, Constitution class)

13) USS Hornet

14) USS Wasp

15) USS Lafayette (NCC-1720) – Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy (Star Trek II Biographies)

16) USS Argo

17) USS Nautilus

18) USS Pegasus

19) USS Olympia

20) USS Oberth (NCC-602) – Potential participant in Operation Retrieve (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

21) USS Eagle (NCC-956) – Potential participant in Operation Retrieve (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

22) USS Endeavor (NCC-1895, Constitution class) – Potential participant in Operation Retrieve (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

23) USS Venture